Before and After Kitchen: As Seen on HGTV’s House Hunters Renovation

My second House Hunters Renovation episode aired this past weekend. If you missed seeing it on television, it is Season 14, Episode 9 and is called: “Flying into a Renovation”. It should be available on demand and I believe you can find it on YouTube as well. It always blows my mind to see a kitchen renovation condensed into a half hour segment. If only reality were like that! I do kind of like that it looks like we performed magic of some kind. Look, I’m going to present you with my idea for your kitchen – give me 20 minutes (or so) and you’ll be clinking glasses in the newly redesigned space! I know it sounds crazy, but trust me, I’m magical.

Here are some Before and After photos of this project along with some floor plans and sketches that I created prior to construction. I took these photos at the first meeting between myself, the client and Mike from West Elevations. This was my first time in the space and it really hit me at this point that this kitchen was the size of a generous walk-in closet.

BEFORE: I couldn’t step back and get a good photo of the space – my back was against a wall when I took this. I do like the faucet coming out of the wall and there is some charm to the built-in-place cabinetry. These cabinets were once a bright turquoise! Ah, the 1950’s…BEFORE: This setup is a little awkward. The refrigerator is blocking the window and the dishwasher needs to be rolled over and hooked up every time you want to use it. Also, we have big, beautiful windows and an empty corner in a room that needs counter space.

The windows in this corner have 30″ sill heights – the average kitchen countertop is at 36″ height. The clients did not want to put in new windows at this time and I don’t blame them. It’s a brick home and masonry work is expensive. I don’t like built-ins that ignore windows so I knew right away I’d have to lower the cabinets in this area.

BEFORE: Again, I took this with my back against the wall. The only reason I think the stove is here is because the 220 outlet is on this of the room.BEFORE: I think the stove would have gone here in the original 1940’s-50’s kitchen.

I took measurements while I was here and immediately put it into CAD and started playing around with the layout.

This is the existing floor plan.Here’s the final floor plan.

After this I did elevations and sketches. I won’t bore you with the elevations – but here are the sketches. I love it when the initial sketch that’s in my head looks so similar to the finished product.

Next week I’ll add some product information and a few in-progress shots I took along the way. Being a part of the show was a tremendous amount of fun. The experience of having a camera crew with a producer follow me around at my job was something I (and my ego) could get used to! Anytime you put something that you created out into the public eye it can be a little nerve-wracking. Add putting yourself out there for public consumption and it’s even more so. Thank you family, friends and kind strangers for being supportive.

Published by Laura Medicus Interiors

Laura is a Denver Interior Designer who runs an Interior Design Studio based in sunny Colorado with a strong commitment to livable and interesting interiors. She also runs The Colorado Nest, a Denver blog about Design, Art and Life in the Mountain West and co-hosts the book podcast "The Inside Flap" on iTunes, Stitcher and Google Play.
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